


Snapshots

by paridae



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: AU, Canon, Fluff, M/M, a pinch of sad, questionable attempts at writing action
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-15
Updated: 2014-09-14
Packaged: 2018-01-15 21:13:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 3,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1319389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paridae/pseuds/paridae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of short, unconnected fics focusing on Riku and Sora.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Battle-torn, Low on Potions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Riku/Sora. Set vaguely in KH3. A friend of mine has also drawn something for it at http://xxcastingshadows.tumblr.com/post/76073277037/
> 
> Go check it out! She's a great artist.

That was close. That was really, really close.

Once Xehanort’s vessel finally faded away in a swirl of darkness, Sora let his keyblade fall with a clatter and disappear with a flash of light. He swayed a little, before collapsing to the ground, breathing shallow and shaky.

He let his cheek rest against the dirt, bangs and dust sticking to his forehead and the sun above unrelenting in its heat. Trust that he’d run into one of them when Donald and Goofy were working with the King today.

He lucked out, he really did. If he hadn’t crossed paths with Riku—who happened to have his missions on the same world as Sora’s today— he would have been done for.

And Xehanort would turn him into his vessel, for real this time.

Sora smirked weakly to himself. Trust Riku to have his back, huh?

Speaking of Riku… Sora lifted his head off the ground with a groan. About ten paces away, Riku was sprawled against a boulder, head lolled back, still bleeding from where the Aero spell had glanced off his shoulder.

With the last of his energy, Sora got to his feet, grimacing because his entire abdomen hurt like hell, and stumbled over to collapse beside him, sitting up this time.

“You’re out of potions too?” Sora managed to gasp.

“More or less,” Riku responded, just as breathless. “I’m waiting for my magic to come back.”

Sora lifted up his shirt, frowning at the bruises littering most of his chest and stomach. He tried taking a deep breath, and immediately regretted doing so. A broken rib, probably.

Riku made a strangled noise at the sight. “That looks really bad.”

“You’re worse off,” Sora eyed the long cut, which started from the edge of Riku’s collarbone and crossed over to his arm. Riku would lose too much blood before he could heal himself, he thought. He dug through his pockets with one hand.

“Yeah, right.”

His fingers at last wrapped around a familiar vial. “At least I’m not _bleeding,_ ” Sora said with finality, as he dropped a bottle of potion into Riku’s lap.

“At least I’m not hurting when I _breathe,_ ” Riku said at exactly the same time, as a bottle of potion landed in Sora’s.

Sora blinked. “Dude, I thought you said you ran out.”

“I did. I was just saving that one for you,” Riku shrugged the best he could with one shoulder. “And I thought _you_ said you ran out.”

Sora laughed, quietly as not to aggravate his injuries further. It came out more like a whoosh of air. “Well,” he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “I was saving that one for you, too.”

Riku tilted his head to smirk at him from the corner of his eye. “Well, isn’t that cute of you?”

Sora returned the smirk with a grin of his own. “Right back at ya.” He uncorked his bottle and raised it up. “Cheers?”

“Cheers.”

Their bottles clinked.


	2. Hearts in Tune

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Riku/Sora. Written for perpetualxlight's birthday, her prompt being "rain".

Rainy season had begun, and the world was a sodden place.

From his seat on the steps of the porch, Riku quietly watched sheets of rain splatter onto the ground, trickling down rooftop gutters and dripping from leaves, and collecting into puddles in front of him, forever distorted by tiny ripples, brief reminders that raindrops ended their journey there.

There was the sound of a little rivulet bubbling, accompanying the wet _pitter-patter_ on the roof above.

Beside him, close enough to feel his warmth, Sora was humming, tapping his bare foot against the wood vaguely in time to the tune.

"That's from the Symphony of Sorcery, wasn't it?" Riku murmured. There was a tingle in his chest, like his heart was humming along too.

The humming stopped. "Yeah. From when our Sound Ideas joined." Sora grinned and reached a hand out to feel the rain hitting against his palm. "It kinda stuck around in my head."

"Mickey… Mickey told me that it was our hearts singing, because they were always in tune."

"A song that our hearts made together, huh? No wonder I couldn't forget." Sora said, smiling. He retracted his hand and wiped the water off on his shorts before he reached for Riku's, tangling their fingers together. "What do you wanna call it?"

Riku let his other hand rest on top of Sora's, and said, a little bashfully, "Dearly Beloved."

Somewhere amongst the rain, the faint melody of a piano could be heard.


	3. Value Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Riku/Sora. Written for skystorm-lionheart. Prompt was "Value Me".

With a strong, practiced stroke, Sora slashed his Keyblade through two Shadows and rolled away just in time, evading the sword of an Orcus slamming into the ground.

Ugh, an Orcus. He needed to get rid of it before it disappeared and made the battlefield _even more_ chaotic. He cast a slowing spell and leapt into the air in a direct attack, stabbing through the Orcus’ neck and ripping the head clean off, the rest of the body dissolving into shadow.

Sora inwardly cheered at his victory, only to realize that his spell had worn off and he was still falling, leaving him open to a barrage of fireballs from several Red Nocturnes hovering near him.

Oh, oh _shit_. Sora shut his eyes and braced himself for the collision, getting burned was never pleasant after all, even if he could heal from them instantly.

Instead he landed on the ground safely, a dark barrier shimmering around him and shielding him from the heat. Sora grinned at this development.

"Riku, man, I love you!" Sora shouted, as he took the chance to blast the Nocturnes with water.

"Sora, I appreciate your feelings towards me, but isn’t…" Riku cleared out all the Heartless around him in one fell swoop, "… this a bad time to declare them?"

"Fine, I’ll shut up now and declare them when I take you out for dinner!"

"You said you were broke!" Riku called back.

"I won’t be after we’re done with these guys! I’m gonna hold your hands and say every single thing—" Sora kicked a Heartless away from him. "I like about you—" The Heartless dissipated in dark smoke, and suddenly he and Riku were back to back. "Over candlelight!"

"You _sap,_ " Riku said, breathlessly. "Why am I dating you again?”

Sora peeked over his shoulder to see Riku’s face flushed from battle, or was that embarrassment? Probably both. He cast Curaga over them, before giving Riku a nudge. “But are you up for it?”

Riku laughed. “Of course.” They dived into the next wave of Heartless with fervour.


	4. First Snow Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Riku/Sora. Written for whatiskingdomhearts' lovely piece of artwork at http://whatiskingdomhearts.tumblr.com/post/69470465700

Snow.

It was snowing outside. Sora could tell with his eyes half closed and without looking out the window, just from the distinct lighting when it was dim and overcast above, but bright white below. Almost like the land and sky had swapped places.

He sat up and opened the blinds. Soft bands of light spilled into the room and over the bed he shared with Riku.

Sora seldom saw snow, having grown up on a tropical island. The sight of snowfall still amazed him, and he figured he’d probably never tire of it.

… Didn’t they say no two snowflakes were alike? But they were all pretty in their own right. Kind of like people. Sora thought it was a shame he’d never be able to appreciate them all, but then again, he couldn’t meet everyone either.

Later, he would have to wade through the snow with a shovel in hand (he thought about investing in a flamethrower to clear the sidewalk like his very-likely-a-pyromaniac neighbour across the street), and definitely lob more than a few snowballs at Riku. Then they’d help each other peel off wet clothing to hang-dry, and attempt to creep each other out by sticking cold hands down each others’ shirts before they’re warm again.

But, when Sora looked away from the window and at Riku, whose bare shoulders were rising and falling with the steady regularity of sleep, he didn’t mind staying cozy with him for a while longer. He settled back down and slipped an arm around Riku’s waist.

Through the slits of the blind, snowflakes continued their lazy swirl downwards.


	5. UNzip Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Riku/Sora. Written for kettcastingshadows, prompt being "UNzip me" (you sneaky person you).
> 
> Tried a more dialogue-heavy style this time. I don't know what to think of it.

"So!"

"So."

"There’s not a lot of water in here."

"Displacement, Sora." Riku smirked, toeing the bathmat into place. "Any more and it’ll overflow once we get in."

"Oh, right."

"This is grade school physics, you know."

"I knew that! It slipped my mind, that’s all. So… you want to help me take my shirt off?"

"You’re perfectly capable of doing that yourself."

"It’s more fun this way! Come on!"

"Haha, alright." In one smooth motion, Riku yanked Sora’s shirt over his head with a _whoosh_ and let it fall to floor.

There was the sound of Riku’s vest zipping open, followed a rustle as it was pushed off his shoulders. “You know,” said Sora, “we haven’t taken a bath together since we were like, ten.”

"That long?"

"Yeah. But it’s not like we haven’t done this before." Sora’s hands moved to Riku’s belt.

"But it’s been _years_. And we’ve grown. A lot.”

"Well, now’s a good time as any to see what’s changed, right?" The belt finally came loose, and Riku’s pants pooled at his feet along with his underwear.

Sora gave a low whistle. “Not bad.”

_"Sora!"_

 

 

 

 

**Bonus scene  
**

“I… how do your pants even work?”

"No idea. Even when I put them on, they kind of um, magically assemble."

"What."

"They’re magic!"

"Have you tried making them… magically come off?"

"You know what, I’m gonna try that now."


	6. Nose Glasses and Tea Parties

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Riku/Sora. Written for perpetualxlight a long long time ago.

"Here, put these on," said Sora, pressing a pair of nose glasses into Riku’s hand before leading him over to the table.

So here Riku was, sitting at the cramped table with everyone at the Mysterious Tower, celebrating his Mark of Mastery with a tea party. And everyone was wearing nose glasses.

There was something decidedly weird about this, he thought, as he talked and laughed over tea and cake, but he couldn’t figure if it was the fact that he _passed_ the exam (I’m a … keyblade master?), or because this was all jarringly normal compared to the fact he had to battle the darkness in Sora’s heart mere hours ago.

Or maybe he was just overwhelmed with relief, because those mere hours ago, he was so, so scared to see that Sora was asleep _again_ and now Sora was sitting beside him, grinning his stupid grin and laughing his vibrant laugh like always.

Riku was so caught up in his thoughts that he almost didn’t notice the sound of chair legs sliding on the floor as Sora stood up, took a long drink from his cup of tea, and announced with a determined expression, “Alright! I’m gonna do it!”

And before Riku knew it, Sora’s arms were around his neck and he leaned close—

Riku occasionally had fleeting thoughts to what his first kiss might be like, but he was pretty sure that they didn’t include his and Sora’s nose glasses awkwardly smushed together, with the frames digging into his cheeks and the bulbous plastic noses taking up whatever little space was left between their faces.

It probably looked really ridiculous, if Lea laughing in glee was any indication, and the glasses were really getting in the way, but Riku couldn’t care less. Sora was close and warm and tasted of tea and cake and _Sora was kissing him_.

So Riku brought his arms up and around Sora and kissed him back. He felt Sora smile, and it was funny, how Sora’s smile felt every bit as brilliant as it looked.

They pulled apart, grinning at each other, and everyone around the table cheered.

Riku took his glasses off, and Sora did too, both boys rubbing at the marks left behind from plastic pressing into skin. Riku smirked. “You didn’t really plan this through, did you?”

“Nope.” Sora replied easily. They both laughed, and kissed again.


	7. Fight Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Riku/Sora. Written for an anon, prompt being "Fight Me".

If this was the universe’s way of doling out divine retribution, Riku decided, then he completely, utterly, deserved it. No matter how much he tried to atone, karma was karma, and the balance wouldn’t be satisfied until the difference was paid in full.

It was only appropriate, this role-reversal, Riku thought, as he parried a slash from Sora in a shriek of clashing metal, green eyes meeting yellow for a brief moment before he used the momentum to leap away, putting distance between them.

If he could even call him Sora, now.

An eye for an eye, right? He had fallen into the darkness and did horrible things to Sora. Now, it was time to be in Sora’s shoes.

This was his second encounter with Sora since that horrible day. Both times, Riku was forced to draw out his Keyblade.

But—

"Why aren’t you fighting back, Riku?" Sora called. "I thought you liked proving you’re stronger."

He couldn’t bring himself to hurt Sora. Even if he technically wasn’t Sora anymore, even if it meant excess danger to himself, he just _couldn’t_. He didn’t want to fight him again.

"You’re not gonna talk now too? Come on Riku, you always have nice comebacks when I say stuff like this."

Riku could only defend himself and hope to outlast him.

Sora held his stance for a second longer, before he sighed and dismissed his Keyblade. “I’m bored. You’re boring. Which is funny, ‘cause you used to be my best sparring buddy.” He opened up a Dark Corridor, casually waving a goodbye over his shoulder as he stepped in. “I’ll seeya.”

The Corridor shrunk out of existence, and Riku let himself collapse, staring up at the overcast sky.

—

 _"Shit,"_ Lea gritted out. “What happened to you?”

Riku looked down at his torn clothes and wounds. Some of them were still weeping, because he was drained and his reserve of potions was gone. “You know perfectly well,” he muttered, refusing to look Lea in the eye.

A Curaga washed over him, lightening his bruises and sealing away the last of the gashes. “You ran into Sora again, didn’t you?” Kairi murmured, as she lowered her Keyblade. She walked over to grab Riku by the arm and pull him down beside her, seating them both against the wall.

"Who else?" Riku said, drawing his knees up to his chest. After a moment, he laughed bitterly. "I guess in the end, Sora’s the stronger one after all. At least he could bring himself to knock some sense back into me."

"Then return the favour. We all know he’d understand once he’s himself again."

"Come on, Keyblade _Master_. If I could fight Roxas while he was free of any tinkering, then you can fight a Norted Sora.” Lea said, dragging a hand through his hair. “Even if you don’t to fight him now, eventually you’ll have to,” he added, a little more gently.

Riku closed his eyes. “I know.”

He’d still feel guilty as hell.


	8. Pokemon AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Riku/Sora. Written for espurd on tumblr.
> 
> I was asked if I knew of any Pokemon AUs involving Riku/Sora. I didn't know of any, so after some encouragement from two other friends, I ended writing a short and silly one.

"Komory Bat, use Double Cutter!"

With a high-pitched squeak, the bat flapped its wings  _hard_ , and two slashes of wind slammed into Sora’s Pegaslick, throwing it backwards into the air before finally landing in a rough heap, wings crumpled and eyes squeezed closed.

"Pegaslick!" Sora could only watch in despair as his Dream Eater turned into light and got sucked back into its Spiritsphere.

Another one down. Tsk. Riku was _good_. It was a long time since he last had the challenge of someone wiping out most of his lineup.

But, he knew Riku was down to his last Dream Eater too, and that Komory Bat looked like it was on its last legs - er, wings.

"Looks like we’re pretty evenly matched, huh?" Sora called.

Riku smirked. “I have to admit, you’re giving me more trouble than I thought.”

Sora still had an injured Meow Wow left. He figured he might as well go all out, fight to the very bitter end, that kind of thing.

"This is it! Go, Meow Wow, use Faith!"

"Counter with Dark Mist!"

Too late, Sora thought smugly. Columns of light shot down and struck the Komory Bat before it could move _(it was super effective!)_ , and at last, _at last_ , it fainted and returned to Riku’s Spiritsphere.

"Yeah, Meow Wow! I knew I could count on you!" Sora cheered, doing a little victory dance. The Meow Wow threw itself at him, making happy noises and licking all over his face. He laughed and scratched behind its ears. "Aww, you silly thing. I’m gonna get some confetti candy for us all with the money I get after, how about that?" Sora turned to look at Riku, who was watching the exchange and… smiling?

_(It was kind of cute.)_

"Here you go, as promised." Riku said, handing over a few bills. They shook hands. "Good match, I haven’t battled someone as skilled as you for a while."

Sora grinned. “Same here.”

As Riku turned to leave, Sora let Meow Wow return to the Spiritsphere, before running to catch up with him. “So,” said Sora conversationally, “you heading back to town?”

"Yeah. To the Dream Eater center. You kind of took out my lineup, after all."

"Ha! I can say the same to you. But hey…" His eyes met Riku’s. "Do you wanna go grab a coffee together after we get our Dream Eaters healed up?"

Riku blinked in surprise, and then there was that smile again. “I’d love to.”


	9. Post KH3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Riku/Sora, for soras-majestic-butt@tumblr. Written while sleep deprived on my 13 hour-long flight hahaha.

Over. Everything was finally over. This fact often re-established itself in Sora’s head whenever he drifted back into consciousness.

The Thirteen Darknesses no longer existed in this world, but neither did the Seven Lights. The Keyblades were gone, their magic was gone. There was no chance of the X-blade being forged ever again.

He figured that was, overall, a good thing. Nothing could threaten the worlds again. But at the same time, Sora remembered with a pang, lying down on a hospital bed with bandages tight across his chest, that also meant Kairi wasn’t around anymore, and he couldn’t see Donald and Goofy again.

A hand reached over to run through his hair, fingers skirting over the bruises before lightly resting on his forehead. “You need more painkillers?” Riku asked, leaning over as much as he could in his wheelchair to peer at Sora’s face.

Sora shook his head imperceptibly. “I’m good,” he said, licking his dry lips. “’sides, it’s not like you’re _that_ much better off,” he added, nodding towards the casts on Riku’s legs and the sling his left arm was in.

“Still better than you,” Riku replied, his hand moving to gently cup Sora’s cheek. “Wish we had Curaga again. Or that I brought one more potion along with me.”

Sora snorted. “I don’t think potions work anymore either. But hey,” he brought his own hand up to clasp Riku’s and kissed the inside of his wrist, “get some sleep.”

“… Okay,” Riku murmured. He wheeled closer and let his head rest on the edge of Sora’s bed.


	10. 5000th post

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for my 5000th post on tumblr. Obligatory self-indulgent Riku/Sora fluff.

Sometimes, Riku thought the best part about waking up wasn’t the fact that Sora was often entangled with him in a jumble of arms and legs, nor the fact that he occasionally woke up to feel Sora dropping light kisses on his forehead, cheeks, mouth, occasionally dipping down to the collarbone.

No, the best part of waking up was when Riku came to on his own, eyes drifting open gradually to see Sora’s face at the right distance away, not too far to lean in for a kiss, but not too close that he couldn’t see his whole face.

And Sora would be giving him _that_ look, an adorable sleepy-fond expression, eyes relaxed, smiling, like he was so fucking happy that Riku was part of his life. The kind of look that filled Riku with something lighter-than-air and _tingled_.

The moment never lasted long; it was always broken with a witty comment or a ruffle to the head before reluctantly climbing out from under the sheets. But Riku made sure to hold Sora close and warm, maybe slip an extra Elixir into Sora’s pocket (Xehanort was a dangerous man after all), before they went their separate ways for the day.


	11. Three Sentences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> for the three sentence challenge at tumblr

Prompt: Clothes Shopping

 "Y’know Riku, maybe you should get those pants there."

 

"Don’t they look a little tight?"

"Trust me on this."

 

* * *

 

Prompt: Ancient civilizations

Well, wasn’t _that_ an excellent first run, Riku thought glumly, as he stared at the little black watch on his wrist, the numbers 71:57 happily informing him in a glowing red that he needed to wait three days before he could move through space-time again.

He didn’t know where he was, just that he was nearly two thousand years before his time and seated on the muddy banks of a slow-moving river.

He was glad, so glad that he had the thought to bring along a universal translator along with him when he felt someone’s hand on his shoulder, turning his head to see a boy with a head of unruly brown hair and concerned blue eyes looking down at him.

 

* * *

 

Prompt: Evangelion AU

Sora was amazing. He was kind, he was forgiving, and with his energetic laughter and warm smiles, he was the ray of light in the world Riku found himself waking up to after fourteen years of sleep, hostile and choked with red dust.

He was amazing, and Riku loved him, so when Sora’s body burst into a million pieces inside Unit 13, Riku’s heart did the same.

 

* * *

 

Prompt: Aprons

Riku stared at the sight before him, blinking twice just to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating.  
  
After all, Sora was lounging on the couch wearing nothing but an embarassingly frilly 'kiss the cook' apron (courtesy of Kairi) and tossing a can of whipped cream from hand to hand.  
  
"Um," he began, before he figured he should just shut up and go with the flow.

 

* * *

 

 

Prompt: Feeding ducks

Sora chuckled nervously as more and more ducks surrounded him, fixated on the empty bag of corn kernels in his hand. “Sorry guys, I’m out.”

Unsurprisingly, the ducks didn’t listen and crowded even closer, with one even flapping up and nearly winging him in the face. “AUGH— no, down! Riku? Some help here?”

Riku simply leaned back on the park bench and tried not to laugh.


	12. kisses containing power

Sora had to hold back a snort of surprise by the time Riku finally arrived at their designated meeting spot in Radiant Garden, clothes disheveled and sporting a rather nauseous expression on his face. “Dude, what happened?”

"A mob of poison Heartless, that’s what." Riku breathed out, giving the direction he came from a withering glare. "You have a Panacea to spare?"

Sora immediately started digging through his pockets, pulling out nothing but empty vials as he did. “Shit, I don’t.”

"I’ll just wait for the poison to wear off then," Riku said, slumping against the wall behind them.

Sora hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe you won’t have to.” Before Riku had the chance ask just what he meant by that, Sora brought his hands up to cup Riku’s jaw, pulling his face down to kiss him on the lips.

Riku looked a lot less ill by the time Sora pulled away and was blinking dazedly at him, cheeks that were pale just moments ago now a healthy shade of pink. “Oh.”

"Something I learned at the Dwarf Woodlands," Sora said, smiling. He kissed Riku again, because kissing Riku was always something he liked to do, curing poison or not, and tangled their hands together. "C’mon, we don’t want to keep the Restoration Committee waiting."


End file.
